


Is There Anything You Do Like?

by Vmwrites



Category: The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
Genre: Audrey decker is alive and well, Audrey hates him, Boris lives in New York, High school boreo, M/M, Underage Drug Use, boreo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:21:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21549808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vmwrites/pseuds/Vmwrites
Summary: Audrey Decker and her son's boyfriend seem to have nothing in common.Until one day they realize, they do.
Relationships: Theodore Decker/Boris Pavlikovsky
Comments: 13
Kudos: 271





	Is There Anything You Do Like?

From the first day Theo brought the long, lanky, greasy, messy, sort of beautiful looking foreign boy home to his mother, she's hated him. 

The moment he stepped through their apartment door, reeking like weed and laughing loudly with his arm draped around Theo, Audrey Decker knew that this boy was trouble. 

She had cleared her throat to get Theo's attention. He had been laughing alongside him, with his face buried into the side of the tall boy next to him.

He turned his head straight ahead to look at her, still laughing.

"Oh, mom," he said through laughter, "this is Boris, the one I've been telling you about."

She should have known. Theo practically never shut up about this boy. 

_ Oh, mom, he's tall, he's cute, he's funny, he's got a hot accent, kind of a bad boy vibe.  _

Although the connection was very easy to make simply by looking at the boy walk through the door, something within her made her hope this wasn't him. 

He turned his attention from Theo to her, "Ah, yes, hello!"

Loud, obnoxious, clearly stoned. 

"Hi..." she said in a cautious trailed-off tone so that hopefully her son would get the hint that she was not pleased, but of course, he didn't.

"I have heard so much about you, Audra." His accent was heavy and his speech was slurred, she couldn't tell wether or not he just couldn't pronounce her name or he was too high to properly remember it. 

"It's Audrey."

"Yes, that is what I said!"

Theo laughed, keeping his arm hidden in its place where it was wrapped around Boris' waist. 

"We'll be in my room, mom."

"Leave that door open."

"Of course!" Boris said dramatically. 

Audrey watched as they walked to Theo's bedroom, Theo walking in first, followed by Boris, who shut the door as if her command meant nothing to him. She could hear him laugh followed by the clattering of Theo's school-award shelves. 

* * *

Audrey swallowed her pride and dealt with her distaste towards Theo's new flame. She wasn't the kind of parent who would  _ ban  _ her child from seeing someone, and she couldn't help but smile when she saw the way Theo would light up when Boris would enter a room. She hated the kid with a burning passion, but Theo didn't, so she tried to make the best out of it.

When Theo would leave them alone sitting on the couch , Audrey would make attempts at conversation, in hopes that a common ground could be found between them, and maybe,  _ just maybe,  _ there was something they both liked that they could bond over.

The film they were watching was  _ The Sound of Music,  _ one of Audrey's favorites. She adored musicals and she figured, if Boris possibly liked musicals too, she would be able to slightly stomach him constantly raiding her apartment.

"This one's a classic," she started, "One of my favorite musicals to date. Do you have any favorites?"

"Favourite musical?" he said tilting his head as if he were looking to find one he's seen in his head. 

"Yes," she spoke, lighting up slightly at the way he appeared interested.

He smirked slightly before laughing.

"I don't like any! Pretentious every last one of them!"

"Why would you say that?"

"Because is true! You seem to like a lot though. What's next? We watch girl sleep around and get pregnant while singing about money, money, money."

Audrey put her hand to her chest, appalled.

"That's not the only thing Mamma Mia is about!"

Theo came back and sat next to Boris on the couch. Boris seemed to have ignored her comment and slung his arm around Theo, pressing kisses to the side of his face, earning his laughter in return.

She shook her head. She already disliked him, but now she found him absolutely vile. 

* * *

While Audrey seemed to hate every last detail about Boris, there was one thing that ground her gears more than anything else. Fine, he may not have liked musicals, but he didn't appear to like anything at all that Audrey seemed to like. 

That antagonizing phrase he said, almost on purpose, out of spite, nearly every time.

_ I don't like it. _

When she'd offer him her favorite home-cooked meal, "No, I don't like it", to when she'd offer him food she'd taken-out from her favorite restaurant, "Don't like it."

She started to notice he was doing it on purpose when she had picked up food from a restaurant Theo had told her he and Boris would always go to. She had laid it out on the table in front of them and Boris looked as if he was ready to dig in. Hoping that it could be her ticket to a common liking with Boris she pointed her finger to one of the dishes Boris seemed to be eyeing.

"I've tried this one, it's really good."

He instantly scowled at the dish he was once salivating for, making a gagging motion with his mouth.

That day, she had snapped. 

"What's wrong with it?"

"I just don't like it."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

"You seem to be perfectly fine with drugs slung off random people in the street, but this is a problem for you?"

Theo had gotten angry at her for that one. The look on his face was shocked and hurt. Boris, on the other hand, seemed to like what she had said. He had gotten the rotten reaction he had been looking for and plastered a nasty smirk on his face that made Audrey think if she were his mother, she would have smacked right off of him. 

Another time he'd done this was when Theo dragged him out to an art exhibit with them. He had clearly not wanted to go. He had no real direct interest in art and well, she was going to be there, and he would much rather be alone in Theo's room making out with the door closed. 

Relatively uninterested in anything else, Boris finally lit up in the face when he laid his eyes on one that just so happened to be Audrey's favorite.

_ The Goldfinch. Carel Fabritius. 1654. _

Something about the painting seemed to strike him. He had his hand in Theo's and his eyes fixated upon the image. Tilting his head and opening his mouth slightly, he appeared to be in complete awe.

In honesty, Audrey was quite done trying with him and only spoke up to address Theo.

"This one is my favorite. Saw it for the first time when I was a little girl."

On cue, Boris shook his fixated gaze from the painting and looked towards the ground.

"I don't like it."

* * *

One Saturday night, when standing in the kitchen, discreetly observing her son and his mess of a boyfriend, she felt a slight pang of sadness. 

They appeared happy. So very happy. 

Sitting on the couch with no space in between them, laughing, playfully shoving each other and gently spitting out what sounded to her as Russian curse words. They were glowing. She hated it, but it was a beautiful picture. 

Theo planted a quick kiss on Boris' lips, then sat back slightly and admired his face. Boris whispered something to him in Russian before kissing him gently on the cheek. Theo giggled before calling out to his mother.

"Mom! Come pick a movie!"

She went in and sat on the other end of the couch, grabbing the remote off the side-table and flipping through the rentable movies.

"I'm gonna go change," Theo said as he got up and walked to his room, leaving Boris and Audrey alone on the couch once again.

She sighed and named out some movies that would possibly interest him.

"Love Actually?"

"No."

"Superbad?"

"No."

"The Matrix?"

"Nope."

Audrey irritably snapped her head towards him, "Is there anything you do like?"

Boris paused for a moment, looking back at her, "Your son."

She paused for a moment, looking at the genuine look painted on his face that she had yet to see before.

"Oh...So do I."

No objections, no  _ actually, I don't like it.  _ No sarcastic remarks or degrading glances. Just a turn of the head back towards the tv. 

So maybe they do have something in common after all. _Theo_. If there was anything she felt she knew best, it was that Theo is the best person in the entire world to "like", and if he genuinely likes Theo as he appears to, then that must mean he isn't all that bad. 

She continued to flip through the movies, less irritated now and feeling a strange sense of patience and contentment.

"Rocky?"

Boris smiled slightly, "Yeah, I like that one."

**Author's Note:**

> Some more Boreo for my broskiiiis


End file.
